


Rewind

by pickyourselfupfred



Series: Fred and Ginger forever [32]
Category: Astaire/Rogers RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-26 22:13:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13867083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pickyourselfupfred/pseuds/pickyourselfupfred
Summary: The two are finally reunited





	Rewind

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Samantha](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samantha/gifts).



> I love this movie because if you imagine hard enough it just might have been.

“Oh Fred, that was wonderful”, Ginger said as she raised her head from the pillow that was his shoulder.  
“Yes, it was pretty wonderful and you, you were marvellous”  
There was a brief pause for they were more than tired, quite exhausted and utterly spent but incredibly happy.  
“ That has to be better than the first time and that was pretty special”, she said. “The first time was the moment I knew that somehow we’d be together for ever. But this was like travelling back in time, we’ve done what we did then -lots of fun, trying out new things and most of all being in perfect harmony”.  
“Ain’t it the truth”, he replied, pulling her more tightly into him.

They were sitting on a large couch in the MGM rehearsal studio. It was almost ten years to the day since they had last sat in a rehearsal studio mapping out a new dance. Fate had brought them together again and they were ecstatic. The day had held the same joy as it had back at RKO. Laughs, gentle banter, lots of teasing from Fred and most of all sheer hard work from a determination to be better than ever. But chiefly for both of them was the knowledge that everything they had meant to each other had begun in a theater all those years ago when they had taken their first dance steps together and somehow felt a connection that would never be severed.

In the passing years they had held true to their desire to be everything to each other and to put aside their brief separation. They had been together whenever possible and shared special times and throughout had been, for one another, a shoulder to cry on or a sounding board for ideas. Fred had continued making musicals drifting from one studio and one partner to another until after the making of the movie Blue Skies when he had finally decided enough was enough and announced his retirement from the business.  
“After all”, as he said to Ginger in one of their heart to hearts , “my best partner in all that time has been Bing Crosby”. She laughed, “But what about Rita Hayworth – she could dance”.  
He grudgingly agreed she could pick up steps and looked ok. “After all her father was a great dance teacher but oh Gin, nice as the kid is, there really nothing up top. She’s a bit scatter brained to say the least. And then what do I get after that – more non dancers or hopeless kids”.  
So he had quietly withdrawn from the studio scene.  
Ginger had continued making dramas and light comedies throughout the decade but once again her personal life was in torment. With the end of the war Jack had returned to their home but almost immediately, though he had been a budding actor himself, very soon made it clear that he was emphatically not Mr Ginger Rogers. Although she knew that Fred would always be the love of her life she had tried to make the best of this commitment but the last straw for her had been the one thing she simply couldn’t tolerate. Jack hit the bottle with monotonous regularity and her life seemed to be a round of fights fuelled by liquor. By 1948 they were in the process of divorcing and ending a marriage which she now bitterly regretted.

Chance propelled Fred back into movies. His fellow dancer Gene Kelly had been starting a new film at MGM with a former co-star Judy Garland. However in playing volleyball at home he had broken his ankle and had convinced Fred to replace him in the film which was to be titled Easter Parade. The clincher for Fred was Ginger who encouraged him, as she always did, to go for it. He’d enjoyed working with Judy, she was a quick learner and managed in his choreography to refer to his partnership with Ginger by including a sequence where he and Judy danced and he got tangled up in feathers. He’d arranged for Ginger to see a preview clip of this and she’d laughed herself silly over it. They’d long forgotten it was something that for a short while caused a real snit for both of them. Now it was an old joke between two people who adored each other and only recalled happy times. Ginger was so pleased the movie had done well for him and he too was buoyed by its success though, as he confided in his soulmate, he thought “that poor kid Judy” was on a downward spiral.  
“ There’s too much weight on her shoulders and I think the pills she always seems to be taking are doing more harm than good”. It had also given him the chance to air one of his constant moans to Ginger.  
“Here we go again, another Amazonian to partner”. He was talking about Ann Miller who also featured in the movie. One of the leit motifs of Fred’s career had been having partners who were too statuesque as he himself wasn’t that tall. He had convinced himself that, aesthetically and as well emphatically, Ginger was his perfect partner.  
His prediction about Judy had come true. They were scheduled to be co-starring again in a new movie about a bickering showbiz couple but Judy had been in no fit state for any kind of production and she had been taken off the payroll. 

Whoever at MGM had thought of the idea it came about that an ideal partner for Fred would be his old co-star Ginger and now they were back where they always hoped they would be – working, acting and most of all dancing together again.  
“One more try with the last bit of the routine baby then we’ll call it a day here”.  
“Sure Fred”, she had replied giving him another kiss.  
He smiled at her, those hazel eyes twinkling as he said, Ginger we’re sure gonna have a lot of fun making this film”.  
“I know we are”, she grinned.  
“And what’s more baby, think about it. Husband and wife, mr and mrs right from reel one in this movie, how good is that?”.  
“Perfect”, she answered whilst a wish ran unprompted through her head – husband and wife, mr and mrs, would that it could be in this life’.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry it's been so long again posting. Continuing problems that I won't bore you with.


End file.
